How We Collect and Verify Courthouse Rules

Every county record on Courthouse Access is built from primary judicial sources and verified security directives—never guessed from generic state summaries.

1. Primary Judicial & Sheriff Sources (.gov)

For each county courthouse, we inspect three primary documents:

• Chief Judge / Presiding Judge Administrative Orders: Standing orders governing Portable Electronic Devices (such as Cook County GAO 2013-01, California Rule of Court 1.150, Michigan MCR 8.115, or Virginia Circuit Court Orders under Va. Code § 19.2-389).
• County Sheriff Court Security Directives: Checkpoint rules governing whether magnetometers ban smartwatches, whether lobby lockers exist in the entrance vestibule, and whether deputies are prohibited from holding personal property.
• Jury Commissioner Summons Packets: Official parking garage addresses, barcode/ticket validation instructions in the Jury Assembly Room, and juror phone/laptop exemptions.

2. Building-Level Granularity

Within the same county, rules often differ between the downtown Civil Courthouse and the Criminal Justice Center or suburban traffic branches (for example, Cook County’s Richard J. Daley Center vs. the Leighton Criminal Courthouse at 26th & California and the 5 suburban municipal districts). We list branch-specific rules on each county page.

3. Monthly Re-Checks & Human Review Queue

Our monitoring scripts (crawler/monitor.py and crawler/review.py) re-check official court URLs and hash the security/parking policy sections. Any change is queued for human review before publishing.

4. Submit a Courthouse Update

Court clerks, bailiffs, attorneys, and jurors can submit updates or photos of posted courthouse door signs via our Correction Form or email hello@courthouseaccess.com.